Entering the truck track, which
was near the end of each lap,
Bell noticed a slight change in
sound but dismissed it until a few
corners later. "I felt it and I was
like, 'No—there's no way!' Then
all of a sudden, the bike stopped,
and I had to push it back from
the truck track uphill in the sand
wash. It was rough!"
Fortunately, crew chief Phil
Valdez suggested switching to
the backup bike in the impound
area. It would need lights trans-
ferred and a battery to power
them, but it was doable, and they
were able to get it done without
losing too much time. Stewart
was tapped to take the final
couple laps with the monumental
goal of getting their lost lap back
and then some.
As Stover said, "Trevor ended
up getting me on the second-to-
last lap [thus unlapping himself]
right before the finish. He was
moving! I thought we'd lost the
win at that point."
But there wasn't enough time
for the Precision Concepts team
to retaliate and they had to settle
for second this time. "Honestly,
too, for having that happen, a
43-minute lap and still potentially
finish on the lead lap—it was a
short lap, too [compared to
most in the series]—it was pretty
impressive pit work and goes
to show the position we were in
before the issue happened," Bell
said.
The Thomas Dunn/Tyler Nich-
olson/Clayton Roberts trio took
third AA Open on their Factory
Backing KTM 300 XC.
Due to a database crash on
the final lap, further results are
pending.
Mark Kariya
OVERALL
1. Colton Aeck, Giacomo Redondi,
Nick Stover (GG)
2. Robby Bell, JP Alvarez,
Trevor Stewart (Kaw)
3. Thomas Dunn, Tyler Nicholson,
Clayton Roberts (KTM)
IN
THE
WIND
P50
Michael Fichera jumped
into the Ironman lead
on the second lap and
maintained his position
for the rest of the day.
